A little to the left
by Questionable Answers
Summary: one-shot centered on Kaito's and Aoko's relationship as they set up for the school festival. Good thing Kaito hid the mops.


Author note: I intended this one-shot to be the first in a series of unrelated stories concerning the various IC couples. As soon as I get more written, I'll compile them, but unfortunately I'm not very reliable and it may be quite a while before i writ again. So for now I'm publishing this one-shot as a separate story, rather than a part of the group.

P.S: If you like my work, than please let me know. Nothing is more motivating than knowing someone will enjoy the result.

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"Back a little more…keep going…Stop! Back a little. Now left. More to the left. Hold it there a second." Kuroba Kaito stepped back to survey the scene in front of him. "A bit to the right…good!" his practiced eyes scanned back and forth, determining and memorizing the precise location of every single piece of equipment in front of him, looking for flaws, for anything that could possibly go wrong. Everything had to happen perfectly, too many people were counting on him for him to mess up now. This was the most critical stage in any performance. Making certain that everything would happen as it should. There were too many uncontrolled and unanticipated variables for him to doubt his own preparation.

"Hmmm…" he said thoughtfully, "a little to the le…"

"Are you quite done!" the frazzled and mistreated girl snapped, cutting the boy off mid word. She could simply not understand what had possessed their teacher to assign her and Kaito, of all people, to set up for the school festival. Well, she supposed that if she really thought about it, she could see how sensei _might_ have thought it was a good idea. In fact it was actually logical. The class had decided to put on a magic show with Kaito, the local expert, as the main attraction. But of course he would insist on setting things up himself, and of course the teacher would refuse to let him do it alone. And of course there were only two people capable of dealing with Kaito and his antics well enough to actually get something done. And wasn't it just her luck that Hakuba had flat out refused, leaving Aoko the responsibility of helping/babysitting Kaito. Unfortunately, logical decisions concerning her childhood friend just didn't make sense. Logic, like Hakuba, was staying far away from this particular boy.

She sighed in exasperation. He sure wasn't making it easy for her either. Already they had had a couple of magic related accidents. Or what Kaito insisted on calling accidents. There were a number of birds sitting in the rafters that were refusing to come back down, part of the stage floor was a chard, blackish color, and Aoko herself was currently dressed in a ridiculously colorful…something. But what bothered her the most was Kaito's self satisfied look when he had claimed that they were all just mistakes. Accidents. Aoko new very well that Kaito did not make mistakes often, so three in a row was, to her, pure fiction. She suspected the young magician was purposefully trying to make her miserable and was caught between feeling angry, and trying desperately to NOT be angry in order to rob Kaito of his victory.

"Almost," Kaito smirked a very Kaito –like smirk, and was suddenly glad that Aoko was in no position to go chasing him with a mop at the moment. Assuming she could find one suitable for that purpose. He had already taken the liberty of searching the surrounding area for such items as mops and brooms, and even dusters. He new that Aoko could be down right lethal at times, and was taking no chances. Each and every item Kaito found that his friend would consider a usable weapon was quickly rendered harmless. Most of them he hid a sufficient distance from the volatile young woman. A good thing too. Aoko was mad, and despite her attempts at hiding it, her growing ire was more than evident to the master thief that new her so well. A word her, an expression there, a slight shift in posture all practically screamed to the boy that the girl in front of him was not pleased. He guessed that the 'accidents' played a major role.

Unbeknownst to Aoko, the accidents were in fact exactly that. Mistakes, blunders, mess-ups. Well at least two of them were. The birds that he had used in routine trick were new; he had not yet fully trained them, and had only brought them to let them get some experience. He hadn't intended to actually use them, but he had forgotten. The burn on the stage was the result of an improperly made flash-bomb. A little too much bomb and not enough flash. It was unusual for Kaito to make such simple mistakes, let alone any mistakes at all. He had found it much easier to misdirect Aoko's thoughts and make her believe that they were NOT accidents than admit that he had messed up. It was for that reason that Aoko was currently wearing Kaito's third 'mistake' and Kaito had slapped that grin on his face. Privately, Kaito berated himself for letting his upcoming heist disturb his concentration. He was expecting his favorite little detective to attend and was going over various escape routes and strategies. He was not pleased that tantie-kun was able to drive him to distraction even during school hours. He was a professional after all, and was normally a whole lot better at compartmentalizing.

As Kaito watched Aoko move props and gadgets about the stage, he realized that he might be distracted for another reason. After all, although he saw Aoko practically everyday, and she was the best friend he had ever had, it wasn't often that she participated in his magic tricks. Well, it wasn't often she participated as anything other than a victim. Her being right in front of him, helping to set up for one of his performances made it far to easy to imagine her taking a greater role in his life. He longed to tell her everything he had discovered since he found his fathers secret room. He wanted her to know the truth of his father's death and his own struggle to avenge him. He wanted to tell her about his heists, about the tricks he thought up and the excitement of getting away that made all the planning and hard work worthwhile. More than anything else, he wanted to tell her he loved her, and more than anything else, he knew he never could.

Kaito shook himself mentally. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things. He shouldn't be letting himself get distracted from his current task. He had a reputation as a brilliant magician to uphold, which meant he had to get everything setup exactly right so that the performance would go as planned. Of course, Kaito had complete confidence in his own ability to handle anything that might come up, but that wasn't the point. Meticulous planning and preparation combined with his natural talent and ability to think on his feet is what made Kaito so good, and he couldn't let anything slip. If he managed to royally tick off his best friend in the process, well, so much the better.

"hmmm…, it's just not right. I think the pink one should be a little closer to the front. Then could you move the table to just left of the exact center? Thanks, now move the pink one back a bit…good!...maybe the table should be on the right…"

Aoko was not stupid. It was entirely clear to her that Kaito was having his way with her. The only thing that was keeping her from taking his head off with a mop right this moment was the promises she made to her class to make sure they finished on time. They only had another twenty minutes and she could tell that they still had quite a bit to get done. She never knew before just how much tedious work went into making what seemed to be careless foolery together. As much as she would hate to admit it, now that she had a clearer understanding of Kaito's tricks, she had a greater respect for his talents. The other thing that held off the chase was that Kaito had obviously hidden all the mops, and chasing him around without a mop in her hand just didn't seem right. Now if only she had a fish…

No matter. She would definitely get Kaito back for this later. Aoko paused in her work just long enough to give Kaito a look that, she hoped, clearly promised him tortures and agonies if he continued to bait her. She couldn't be certain that he understood, he did not visibly react to the icy stare. However, the fact that Kaito's instructions became almost immediately clearer and more precise made her believe he got the point. But that didn't mean he'd get away with this, oh no, Aoko's capable mind was already planning her revenge.


End file.
